“Yes. He told me everything. We needed the Key to see what was in the incantation. He wasn’t using it to raise the Lilin.”
“And you believed him?” Abbot knelt in front of me, forcing his gaze to mine. “Why would you trust a demon, Layla?”
A knot lodged in my throat. “Because he hasn’t lied to me, and he has come to my aid—”
“Was he the demon that killed Petr?”
The room was so silent you could hear a grasshopper sneeze. “Yes.”
“Did Petr even attack you or was that a lie?”
I gasped in outrage. “Yes! Petr attacked me. Why would I lie about that?”
Abbot’s eyes flared a brilliant azure. “You have been doing nothing but lying since you met this demon! Why would I assume there was one truth mixed in among the lies?”
I don’t know what he said that did it, and maybe it was a combination of fear and frustration because I couldn’t get a single sentence out, but my control snapped. I shot to my feet so fast that Abbot stood and backed up—he actually backed up from me. Anger rushed over my skin like static. “You jump down my throat when you’ve been lying to me since the beginning!”
Abbot’s nostrils flared.
“What? You don’t have anything to say about that?” I took a step forward, empowered by the anger. There was so much fury, it was like a second soul inside of me. “You’ve known all along who my mother was and what could happen! You’ve told just as many lies as I have!” I cast a dark glare around the room. The hurt was unbearable when my eyes landed on Zayne. “All of you have been lying to me!”
“We were trying to protect you,” Nicolai said.
“How was keeping me in the dark going to protect me? There are demons out there looking for me! And not the one you attacked tonight! If it wasn’t for him, we’d probably have Lilin running all over the world right now, or I’d be dead.”
“I thought keeping you away from the truth was better than you knowing the stain you carry in your blood,” Abbot said.
I flinched. “The stain in my blood?”
“You are Lilith’s daughter.”
“I’m also a Warden!”
Anger snapped from Abbot’s eyes. “A Warden would never have worked with a demon!”
“Father,” Zayne growled.
I was too caught up in my anger to recognize that Zayne was now talking. “Obviously a Warden has done more than just worked with a demon before! Hello? How else am I here?”
“Did you sleep with the demon?” Abbot demanded.
I was so caught off guard by that question that most of the anger was zapped out of me. “What?”
“Are you still a virgin?”
Whoa. The level of awkwardness in the room mirrored the tension and rage. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Answer me!” Abbot roared.
I blanched and then flushed. “I didn’t sleep with him or anyone. Jesus.” Abbot’s shoulders slumped with relief, so much so that my suspicion went through the roof. “Why? What’s the big deal?”
Zayne’s body was taut. “Yeah, I’d like to know what the big deal is myself.”
His father scoffed. “Why else would a demon her age be hovering around her? Her innocence or the loss of such is a part of the incantation.”
“What?” My voice hit an all-new high. “I have to remain a freaking virgin?” And then the bigger picture formed. “You know what’s in the incantation?”
The three males in the room were now definitely not looking at me as Abbot spoke. “Yes. We had to know so that we could prevent it from being carried out.”
I wondered how in the world they expected to do that when they never felt the need to tell me anything. “What is it?”
Abbot arched a brow. “Did your demon not tell you?”
Irritation pricked me. “My demon didn’t know what was in the incantation. That’s why we were getting the book, so we’d know how to stop it.” And I was pretty sure if Roth had known that part, he so would’ve said something.
There was a pause. “The incantation requires the blood of Lilith dead, and the loss of your innocence. Not just the status of your...well, we’ve established that, but your innocence is also tied to your demonic ability. Its loss is total if you’ve taken a soul.”
My mouth dried. “A soul?”
Abbot nodded. “Besides the moral implications of you taking a soul, that’s why it is so important that you never debase yourself.”
I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the sex thing or the taking-a-soul part. I threw myself into the chair, numb. Oh, my God, I had taken a soul, which meant that three of the four things required for the incantation to work were already set in motion.
“I think we need to take a few seconds,” Zayne said, focusing on his father. “Layla would never have done any of this if it wasn’t for that demon. She’s a Warden, but she’s young and—”
“Naive?” Abbot shot back, hands curling into fists. “She knows better than to allow a demon to use her. She is not blameless.”
“She is not completely at fault, either,” Zayne argued, and while I wanted to point out I wasn’t naive, I kept my mouth shut. “She has never...” He didn’t look at me, but I saw him swallow. “She’s never had...”
It struck me then what he was trying to say. “Never had anyone pay attention to me before?”
Zayne didn’t respond, but I knew that was what he was trying to say, and my chest squeezed painfully. Damn, that was insulting, and unintentionally hurtful.
“Regardless, she knows better.” Abbot let out a disgusted breath. “You should’ve come to us in the beginning.”
I looked up. “You should’ve told me the truth.”
We were at a stalemate. Both of us had lied. Both of us should’ve come to each other. A whole bunch of shoulda, coulda, woulda. Silence stretched out, and I didn’t know what else to say. I’d told Abbot everything—well, almost everything—and he didn’t believe me. My earlier conviction that I could convince him was dust in the wind.
“How did you know?” I asked quietly.
He cocked his head to the side. “I knew you were up to something the moment you came home that morning in those clothes. I didn’t know what exactly, but I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened,” he said. “It’s why I let you go to Stacey’s house tonight.”
Dammit. I knew Abbot had caved too easily on that. “If you knew I was planning this, then why did you let it happen?”
“Let it happen?” Abbot’s laugh was harsh. “We got the Lesser Key, and it is safe now. We wanted the demon, too, but we will find him.”
I glanced at Zayne. Standing stoically in the corner, he might try to defend me but he still would not look at me.
“What is his name, Layla?” Abbot asked.
My gaze darted back to him and I swallowed hard. “Why? You don’t believe me. You think he’s out to—”
“He’s a demon! He used you, Layla, like a demon would. Do you not understand? Only a demon and a Warden working together could retrieve the Lesser Key. He needed a Warden and you were all too happy to oblige.” Abbot’s great body shook with the next breath he took. “There was enough blood in you for it to work.”